Coping Methods 101

As I’ve been QQing a lot about lately, my summer job has taken over my life and 12 hours away from home every day means I usually don’t get back in time for the raid. You know how bloggers left and right are talking about end of expansion burnout and how they’re desperately looking for motivation to play? Well, that’s not me.

I’ve been going through all the coping methods imaginable. I’ve been listening in on vent when I’m able to catch the tail of raids (I actually bawled my eyes out when they killed H Putricide 25 for the first time without me). World of Logs has taken over as my bedside novel. I check the guild forums obsessively when I’m home and awake (which is a whole hour a day, usually).

Then last Tuesday, a miracle happened and I got a day off. I was thrilled. Until I logged on to find out that the raid was already full. Must…not…rage…disconnect…must…not…rage…disconnect…

But some people got shuffled around so I could get spot. I sighed with relief. I know the mature, altruistic thing to do would be to bow out since I’m not a regular raider anymore, but to hell with being mature and altruistic. I rarely complain over loot, I try hard to keep my arguing to a minimum and I’m relatively polite, most of the time. When it comes to my raid spot, though, I’m as selfish as it gets. So I happily zone in.

Then my computer proceeded to vomit all over me.

And when I managed to get back into the game, my computer proceeded to vomit all over me again.

And again.

I accepted to leave the raid. I couldn’t contain my furor so I did what I always do at times like that:

I went and spent a lot of money.

Yeah, that’s right.

I dug through my collection of ret gear and got a set together. My bags, I swear, could be featured on that TLC show, Buried Alive. My set is actually pretty decent for someone who hasn’t played retribution since Naxx.

I plugged in some strength gems, slapped on a few enchants and I was good to go.

I figured I’d start with something easy… There was a Mount Hyjal pug in trade chat…

I’m proud to say that I outdpsed the level 70s! Don’t rain on my parade, friends. And no, I didn’t screenshot the recount to prove it.

You’d think that having a decent tanking background would help with melee dps, but let me tell, it doesn’t. When you’re tanking, the mobs kinda stand on top of you. If you move, they follow you around. Not so much when you’re dpsing.

And I kept getting these weird error messages “Out of range” and “Target must be in front of you“. What is THAT supposed to mean?

Still, I stuck in there and moved my way up to level 80 heroics.

That’s me on top there. And I’m happy to announce that my retribution dps is slightly above my tank dps.

Now if only I could get over the knee-jerk reflex of hitting my healing buttons whenever I take damage…

15 Comments on “Coping Methods 101”

I know exactly how you feel about your bags. I did a post a while back about that. I just recently swapped my tank spec for Ret, and going through my bags to find my gear took nearly 15 minutes… *sigh* Anyway, I know how it feels to not be part of the raiding scene anymore. With 2 kids, one of them being only 5mos old, your time is a precious commodity. Especially since my wife works too.

Very true. As tempting as it was it write “I’d do anything for a raid spot!”, I had to restrain myself. I like my job, I’m getting great experience, I like the people I work with and the wages are pretty good compared to what I’m used to. I just wish it didn’t interfere with my raiding!

I, too, have issues with 25m raiding. My internet connection isn’t stable enough to keep me connected during the raids so I tend to sit on the sidelines and listen in whilst the rest of the guild proceeds to oneshot most of the instance.

Thankfully, I discovered Ret. Being primarily a healer, it is fun to actually go and kill things quickly! So, if I’d not taken the time to learn how to faceroll, I’d probably be among the others feeling the burnout, too.

I really enjoyed playing ret while I was leveling through Northrend, I do have a lowbie ret pally in Outlands too that I love playing. But playing ret on my main pally just feels weird! It’s a nice change of pace, though. Now if only those mobs would hold still so I could smack them!

I play prot personally, and much like Ophelie find these disgusting positioning errors… Disgusting. Not to mention boring. And confusing (until I install CLCRet or whatever). I’m much more at home as a semi-psychic location-visualising healer.

Yeah, my mana pool went bye-bye pretty fast. I was confused, I never have that problem on my lowbie retadin! (I guess all the weird leveling gear with int AND strength accounts for that). The instant flash of lights are pretty cool though.

I don’t know if I can have kids or not, I’ve never tried. The thought of having kids the traditional way just doesn’t appeal to me, while the thought of adopting an overseas child makes me giddy. There are so many kids in the world that need homes, why make more? Besides, I’m not one for relationships, and I don’t count on immaculate conception! Plus, I don’t want my kids to look like me. I wouldn’t inflict that on anyone ;).

I get exactly how you feel with going Ret. I used to run two Prot builds untill I finally went Ret a short while back and started building my set for that up. Its weird how something so similar can be so different. It has taken me a while to get to where I am, used to be doing 2k DPS in ICC10/25 gear when I first switched now manage 5-6k still few k short of where I should be in my gear but getting there.
The hardest part to get used to was the different rotation, remembering to use Art of War and to not stand in front of the boss with RF up and taunt:).
Hopefully with the new Cataclysm rotation for Prot it won’t be such a differance in styles should someone swap.
GL with your work and trying to fit raiding in.

I hear you about the taunting! I hit my hand of reckoning by accident a few times!

I only have a couple of weeks left over work, then a trip to the city, then I’m back to school on my regular schedule. I’m not looking forward to classes again, but being able to raid again will be nice.